Hi Friend,

Back in March, you received my (slightly panicked!) request for support in relation to the  legal threats received by the Taxpayers' Union after we exposed the $4 million spent on "whale song for Kauri trees", prayer, and mythical nonsense using taxpayer funds meant for 'science'.

I wanted to take the opportunity to update you.

In short, we are more determined than ever to continue this fight to expose where our science money is going. 

Thanks to our financial supporters, we were able to go back to Ms Mark-Shadbolt's lawyers with a firm "No" to their demands to purge from our websites the reporting on the whale-music and potions for Kauri trees and the demand for payments. But, as always, our continued work relies on your support.

So far, actual proceedings have not eventuated. That doesn't mean we are fully out of the woods (the time limit to serve defamation proceedings is two years, so a Statement of Claim / Notice of Proceedings is still possible).

More disturbing findings: the whale music was just the tip of the iceberg 🤦‍♂️

As you will recall, the Oranga (wellbeing) project that included the whale songs was part of a wider National Science Challenge funded by MBIE.

In the six weeks since this whole legal brouhaha unfolded, I've made sure James, Austin, and the research team continued their investigation work. 

Last week, they briefed me on their findings - including the questions that remain unanswered. It seems we've cracked open an absolute hive of wasteful spending as part of both the Oranga (wellbeing) project and the "Science Challenges".

In relation to Ms Mark-Shadbolt and her associated company (the one you will recall was contracted to undertake to – among other things – to play the whale music to the forest) we found the contracts haven't been limited to Mātauranga Māori for MBIE.

In fact, so far we've uncovered roles and contracts with the Ministry for the Environment, the Ministry for Primary Industries, and the Department of Conservation. Simply by asking the questions the media wouldn’t, our researcher has uncovered a hornet’s nest.

You be the judge whether this is worth eight hundred grand... 🧑‍⚖️

There is much I can't tell you yet, but this gives you a flavour. When we saw the Department of Conservation had paid $800,000 to Te Tira Whakamātaki Ltd, (the Mark-Shadbolt company that received the taxpayer funding for the whale music project), we asked what it was for. Here's what DOC came back with:

The project, titled “Ensuring Effectiveness of Māori Who Lead Conservation Activities for Taonga Species”, includes objectives such as:

- Engaging Māori staff within DOC “to build an understanding of their role as Māori.”

- Identifying conflicts for Māori employees when directives from DOC management “may not sit comfortably with them as Māori.”

- Establishing best practices to ensure Māori networks within DOC operate effectively.

Look , I'm not suggesting this is as bad as music for trees, but come on! The best part of a million bucks of taxpayer money meant for protecting the conservation estate is going to ideological exercises about workplace identity. We've all had a boss or employer who may not have (to use the description DOC have) "sat comfortably" but I bet you didn't get $800k to study it!

The culture of waste 🗑️

It's not Ms Mark-Shadbolt / her company that was ever the real issue. It's the culture and leadership in Wellington that still appear to believe that money being allocated to (at best) questionable or quasi-religious purposes is acceptable.

So the first priority remains to look into the remaining projects in the original Science Challenge scheme (run by MBIE and Landcare). The Oranga (wellbeing) project (i.e. the whale music) made up $4 million of the $120 million funded.

And already what we have found is jaw dropping. For various reasons (including the need for much to go past the lawyers!), we're not ready to publish, but I'm expecting that by the end of the month, we'll be able to give you a thorough briefing.

Like the whales, officials continue to be anything but transparent. In some cases, even getting the most basic information is requiring multiple rounds of information requests (i.e. waiting 20-working days for a response over and over again).

Watch this space 

, it's been 11 years since I set up the Taxpayers' Union. In my experience, it is precisely when officials are making it hard for us to get information that we're onto a story.

I remember the infamous "Flying Turtle" story, which took us six months to stack up. But in the end, we got it out there (and in the media).

The original Whale Music story also took months to uncover, and just like then, we'll keep at it until we get the information needed to be confident in our claims, satisfy the lawyers, and deliver to you the transparency you expect regarding how your money is being spent.

Your support, and willingness to stand with the Taxpayers' Union, means sunlight transparency is applied to the very places the Wellington blob would rather be kept in the dark.

Thanks again for making it possible.

Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

From: Jordan Williams
Date: Friday 7 March, 11:35AM
To: Friend
Subject: The legal claim being made against the Taxpayers' Union

Dear Friend,

CONFIDENTIAL

I am loath to have to send you this email, but I need to bring you up to speed on a very tough challenge I'm facing.

Back in January, I emailed you about the Taxpayers' Union blowing the whistle on the $4 million "whale song for Kauri trees" project that saw whale music and traditional Māori prayer (karakia) being used to 'treat' Kauri trees under the guise of Government funded 'science'.

Last week, Melanie Mark-Shadbolt sent us an extremely threatening legal letter. She is the person we pointed out is both a "co-director" of the organisation that awarded funding for whale songs for kauri trees and is also associated with the company that received $4 million to carry out the project.

Ms Mark-Shadbolt says she intends to sue the Taxpayers' Union for a sum exceeding $225,000 for sending you the email below and publishing it on the Taxpayers' Union's website.

She claims – through her expensive lawyers - that by making supporters like you aware of the fact she is both a co-director of the science challenge (which is true) as well as being associated with the supplier of the services (which is also true), we are guilty of defamation.

She alleges that by merely pointing out these facts, it amounted to us claiming that she is "using her position as co-director of the Biological Heritage [Science Challenge] to improperly benefit herself" (her lawyer's words).

I have already amended our website to clarify that Ms Mark-Shadbolt advised she recused herself from the decision to appoint Te Tira Whakamataki Limited to undertake the playing of music to Kauri trees. But the simple clarification is not enough. Ms Mark-Shadbolt's lawyers are demanding a lot more than that.

Her lawyers have insisted that we purge the email and online article we sent you from all website domains under our control, issue a full retraction and apology, and for us to pay out Ms Mark-Shadbolt.

Otherwise, they say she's going to the High Court to seek in excess of $225,000 from the Taxpayers' Union (and also me personally).

We need your support to fend this off and continue our work on "science" funding being used for things like whale music for trees. 

Even though we had all the material facts right, defending a High Court claim would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, even if we ultimately win. For the Taxpayers' Union, the threat is truly existential. Our ability to continue our work is on the line.

In my opinion, if Ms Mark-Shadbolt was genuine in her concern (or just wanted to 'clarify' that she didn't appoint her own company to do the work) then she would have responded to our request for an interview. Instead, she waited four weeks and then came after us with a full frontal legal assault. I believe this is an attempt just to silence us. Why else would she have her lawyers demand that the entire article be taken offline?

The whole point of the Taxpayers' Union criticism is to ask how on earth we have people in the Government who think using $4 million of our money to undertake mythical nonsense using money meant for "science" is ethical or acceptable.

If asking these questions (and pointing out who is who in the chain of command) results in legal proceedings, New Zealand is stuffed. Accountability depends on transparency.

That's why I'm so reluctant to cave in, shut down the investigation, and remove the whale song for Kauri trees story from the internet. So we really are counting on your support.

There's also a real irony in Ms Mark-Shadbolt's claim. When I was interviewed by Sean Plunket on The Platform about the story, I specifically said that we had not established that Ms Mark-Shadbolt had appointed her own company. The lawyers for Ms Mark-Shadbolt are stretching the meaning of the email so, presumably (in my opinion!), they can shut us down for asking questions or drawing attention to the extremely questionable "science" spending.

I believe that it is the role of the Taxpayers' Union to ask the questions that powerful officials like Ms Mark-Shadbolt don't necessarily want to be asked. And to hold these insiders to account. That includes calling for them to front up to the public and explain how $4 million for a project that included karakia and playing music to trees is a justifiable use of your taxpayer money. That's why I'm asking you to help ensure this attempt to get the Kauri tree whale song exposé taken offline doesn't succeed.

This legal threat has already cost us a five-figure sum. And even if we successfully defend defamation proceedings court awarded costs amount to only a fraction of the actual costs of the lawyers and proceedings.

The legal process itself becomes the punishment. It's why defamation threats are so often used to shut down discussion. Will you ensure that doesn't happen here?

Please contribute to the defence fund so we can continue to shine the light on this sort of unjustifiable spending.

Thank you for all you do. 

Jordan Williams
New Zealand Taxpayers' Union